All you need is a friend
by Lozza2113
Summary: Lauren is in year ten at highschool, she has no friends and gets amazing grades. I based the school in the story off of my school that i go to (some parts anyway) I hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it! :)
1. Chapter 1

Why me?

I walked alone again today, this is normal for me though. No one in my school likes me, I don't mind them they all just have issues. I guess they don't like a girl who wears skinny jeans, My Chemical Romance T-shirts and converse. At least I don't dye my hair like the other girls with their fake blond hair, I have had red hair since birth and that's the way I'm going to keep it. I don't need to change to suit everyone else and I don't need them to change to suit me. These people are who they are, just as I am who I am, no one else can change that. Why would anyone need to change for someone? If the person doesn't like you as you are then they don't really like you do they. Makeup isn't for wearing at school so I don't wear it, all of the other girls wear it, but for school? School isn't that important to be wearing makeup to…

"Class, we have a new student so make him feel welcome!" My thoughts were interrupted by Mrs Myers, "This is Daniel Fredson," " uh hi…" "Daniel you can take a seat down the back next to Lauren, Lauren give Daniel a wave so he knows where to sit." I raised my arm and waved; he walked over and sat down. "Hi I'm Daniel" he smiled at me, well this was a new experience, "Hey, I'm Lauren" That's when I noticed we were wearing almost identical clothes, "Well this is weird… we are matching," I said with a smile, whoa I smiled, I genuinely smiled for once, "You like MCR as well? That's so cool!" he was happy for some reason… "So what school did you come from?" I wanted to start a conversation so I didn't have to listen to Mrs Myers talking about puberty. "Green hills state" "Oh really? I heard that place was nice, why did you leave?" "Because I was always alone, no one liked me and it got to me eventually…" "I have the same problem here… I've been on my own since I got here, and that was three years ago." "I guess we have more in common than we think." He smiled at me, I smiled back, I didn't really notice before, he has brown eyes and chocolate brown hair; it suited him, just like my bright blue eyes and red hair suited me… I guess. When the lesson had finally finished I stood and started walking to my locker, "hey could I hang with you? You seem to be the only person who hasn't looked at me like I'm a child molester…" "Sure, where's your locker?" "It's near the art room" "Oh, mine is near the nurse, I'll meet you outside ok?" "Yeah sounds good" so we walked in our different directions.

I finished getting my lunch and putting my stuff away. I walked outside and looked around for Daniel, I found him sitting in the shade on the grass so I walked over to join him. "Hello stranger" I said with a smile, he chuckled as I sat. "Hey Lauren, you can call me Dan if you want…" "Do you prefer Dan?" "Yeah." "Ok… Dan, you can call me whatever you want, I don't really mind what nickname I have." He thought about it for a bit. "How about… Ren? Because its short like my nickname but it also has something to do with your full name." "I actually like that one" I smiled at Dan; He seemed to be troubled though. "Hey Dan, you ok?" "Huh, oh yeah it's… nothing" "You know, we may have only met today but I do consider you my best friend already, you can tell me anything… I won't judge you or anything like that, because judgement is unfair" I gave him a small smile and he sighed "I consider you my best friend too… ok, I'll just say it as it is, I've been thinking about all the looks I've been getting here… how did you hold up so well? They are giving me dirtier looks than they were at my old school…" "Well I'll let you in on my way of thinking that I apply to everything that life throws at me," His eyes were locked on me as he nodded for me to continue "My way of thinking is literally 'Why should I need to change for anyone? If they don't like me the way I am then they don't really like me do they?' They can hate all they want, as long as they don't get in the way of my schoolwork then we won't have any problems, I don't need to be like them nor do I want to so I will be me and they can be themselves. I don't judge because everyone is different, so if you want to judge someone you should at least get to know them first before you make any assumptions." Dan was silent for a moment, he was thinking hard about what I said. "That's a really cool way of thinking about things, why didn't I think like that before?" "I guess it was for the best of both of us." "Why do you say that Ren?" "Because now we both have a best friend" That made Dan smile. The bell rang a little while after so we headed to our lockers. "See you in science Ren!" He grinned "Sure thing Dan." I smiled as I walked away, I really like having a best friend, especially one that can trust you, and it made me feel good about myself.

I sat in my usual place where I sit in every class, down in the back corner. I didn't sit there to be away from people, it was more so that I could get my work done without distractions. I was an A+ student and that's how it was going to stay. Dan walked in and sat next to me, he saw what I was doing and laughed. "I knew you were a good student but not That good!" He was pointing to my last test paper that had an A+ on it. "I'm very serious about my grades, I need them if I want to be a vet surgeon when I'm older. What level student are you?" "I'm just an A level student, I have gotten an A+ but that was in maths." "That's ok then… for a second I was thinking you were going to interrupt my work by stuffing around, we would have a serious problem if that was the case…" "No I actually care about my grades… unlike the jocks, all they care about is their hair…" This made me laugh, people looked at me as if they were in a state of shock. "What?" I questioned them, one of the girls responded "Umm… Sorry we didn't know you could laugh… you always looked so depressed…" Mr Banchie spoke before I could say something "Taylor stop trying to corrupt my two A level students!" Dan and I laughed, there was a few 'Yeah Taylor's from the rest of them but it all quieted down soon after and I got sucked into the lesson, as did Dan. Then came my second favourite subject, Biology! Dan apparently had the same electives as me so we were in every class together. We sat in our seats and Miss Kendall started the lesson by asking "Well hello there! Who is your new friend Lauren? If I may ask." "This is Daniel Fredson" "Call me Dan, and don't worry! I won't corrupt your precious A level student, I am just as committed to my school work as she is!" "Oh thank god! I was getting worried there… but now it seems I have been replaced by a younger person…" She gave a fake sniffle "Oh miss! No one could Ever replace you! You have a special place in my heart" The three of us laughed suddenly realising that the rest of the class were noisy as hell and were probably disrupting the entire school. The lesson ended a bit too quickly but I was starving considering I had a 'very healthy appetite' as my mum would have said.

So Dan and I met at the same tree for the larger of the two lunches that we have at school. "Hey Ren?" "Yeah Dan?" "Is this tree gonna be our regular lunch sitting placey thing?" "I guess so." "Where did you sit before I came here?" "I sat by myself next to my locker.. why?" "I don't know, just curious I guess." We sat in silence for a while, it wasn't awkward, just silent enjoying each other's company I guess. "You know what I just realised Dan?" "What?" "My nickname is from Ren and Stimpy…" He went into a fit of laughter and I couldn't help but laugh too. "How didn't you realise that before Miss A+?" He said between laughing, "I don't know!" I heard the bell ring "YES!" I yelled excitedly "Are you that happy to get away from me?" Dan said sarcastically "No! We have double art now! That's my favourite subject!" " Oh! Ok for a second I thought my only friend was sick of me!" We laughed as we started moving towards our separate lockers.

I sat in my seat with delight. Dan sat next to me down the back yet again. "Alright guys, go ahead with your drawings that we started" Mrs Greggs was my favourite teacher, not just because she is my art teacher but also because she has always liked me. I pulled out my art book and continued to colour a drawing that was almost done, I was just finishing the background when Dan started to speak "WOAH! That is frickin amazing Ren! How did you draw that?!" "With a pencil… I don't know." The teacher came up to us and said "She drew it with her master skills Dan, It's just that simple." She grinned at my newly completed work. "Hey Dan? Are you good at art as well as Lauren?" "I don't know… I can show you one of the drawings I did back at my old school if you want." He pulled out his art book and flipped to the last drawing he did. "Wow! That is really good Dan! You are a really good artist!" I have to admit I was actually surprised that he was that good at art… "Yeah you are! Just like our dear Lauren here! Oh and I'm happy you finally found a friend Lauren, you looked so alone when I saw you eating lunch by yourself…" Mrs Greggs walked off with a sad smile. "Hey Ren?" "Yeah?" "How come everyone is saying things like you looked depressed and sad? In addition, that girl didn't think you could laugh? Because since I met you, you have been laughing and smiling. Hardly the picture of what they described." I was silent for a moment, trying to think of what to say. "Well… I guess I was a little sad that I didn't have a friend… but that's because humans are social beings… we are meant to socialise…" "But were you actually depressed…" "Umm…" I was, I hadn't had a friend since primary school. "Well now you have no need to be depressed because I am here to be your shoulder to lean on, that's what best friends are for right?" I looked up at him and smiled, he had a very serious face on until I smiled, then he smiled back. I hugged him "Thanks for being my best friend Dan" "Thank you for being mine too"

After the bell rang we went outside where the buses lined up. "Hey Ren, do you catch a bus?" "Nah, I walk because it's only a five minute walk to my place, You?" "I live close by as well, where do you live?" "Davey Drive… You?" "Which house number?" "Number seven…" "Awesome! I live at number 20!" "Wow, small world." "Well, shall we walk?" "Yes Dan, we shall" We walked to my house first and we said our goodbyes. I waved him off and went inside. Mum was in the lounge room watching her program and my sister Kate was watching with mum. "Hey Mum! Hey Kate!" I said happily as I walked in and sat at the desk in the lounge room. "You seem very happy today love! What did you do today?" "Well mum, I made a best friend today! His name is Dan, he moved schools." "YAY!" They said in unison. The three of us tell each other everything, we are like a group of friends rather than a family but we are still family too… "How did you guys meet?" Kate spoke up "He was put next to me in period two and we found out we had a lot in common... he was in the same situation I was in at his school so he moved and now we're best friends" I smiled remembering earlier today. "Does he live nearby?" "Yeah he does actually mum, he lives down at number 20" "Oh wow! Small world huh?" I just realised how much I was like my mum… she is cool so that's ok. I turned around in my chair and started my homework when I got a text. '_Hey Ren! I forgot to ask, do you play video games?' _It was Dan of course, so I added the number to my contacts and replied '_Of course I do! Why wouldn't I? I'm not insane!' 'I knew it! Sweet. Maybe after I finish my homework we could play something?' 'Lol I'm doing my homework too! Yeah after we should play something!' 'Text me when you're done so we can pick something to play! __ ' 'Sure!' _I put my phone down and continued my homework.


	2. Chapter 2

After playing a full night of Grand theft auto we finished up at about 10pm, deciding it was a good idea for sleep considering tomorrow is Friday and you know, sleep is somewhat essential to living. I turned off my computer and just sat on my bed for a while, thinking about random things that Dan and I did today. Best day of my life? Yeah, I'd say so. I have to admit that I'm surprised that I have a best friend, I thought I would face life by myself… Not anymore! That makes me think, I have never really had a friend of the male gender before, I guess guys are easier to get along with for me…

Ok this is ridiculous! I have been lying here for at least an hour! Why can't I sleep!

My phone went off a few minutes later "Who would be texting me at this time of night?" I picked up my phone and read what was on the screen, _'I CANT SLEEP!' _Of course, who other than Dan would text me._ 'Same, my brain won't let me… __' 'Thank god you're awake Ren! I was feeling a bit guilty, I didn't want to wake you up or anything… you might have punched me at school tomorrow or something!' 'Why are you afraid of me punching you? MAN UP DAN! :P' 'I can be a wuss if I want…' 'Not if my mothering skillz can help it! :D' 'You are so random when you're tired!' 'You're so girly when you're tired!' 'Shut it Ren.' 'Night Dan :]' 'Night Ren __' _and with that I put my phone down and finally began to drift into deep sleep.

I stretched as I woke up in the morning, I was in a surprisingly good mood. I went down stairs to find mum had made me and Kate some toast, Kate was already eating hers. "Morning Lauren!" "Morning mum! Hey Kate!" "Hey Lozza!" "Thanks for breakfast mum" "No problem sweetie" I took one bite then realised I was starving, scoffed the rest of my toast, then headed back upstairs. I had a shower, got dressed, went downstairs and grabbed my bag from my desk saying goodbye as I went. I left my house to see none other but Dan waiting for me. "Hey Ren!" "Hi there stranger!" I replied after I closed the front gate. "Shall we?" "You act like we're going to something formal, its school Dan, Nothing formal.." "I can say what I want… and I thought you'd be one of the people to be happy to go to school…" "Not most days, but that was because the day would be full of evil stares instead of laughter…" "Well, now you have a reason to be happy right? Am I a good enough reason?" "I suppose you'll have to do…" I say sarcastically, he elbows me playfully as we continue to walk to school.

This went on for a few weeks, I would wake up, after getting ready for school I would head outside to find Dan waiting for me. During the day we would laugh about how many stares we had gotten. In the afternoon we would walk home, do homework then play some form of video game until about 10pm then we would go to sleep. I like this routine instead of the old one I had, the old one had a lot more foot dragging and A LOT less laughing. Looking back my life was a very depressing one until now. "Ren are you in there?" "Wha- oh right…" My thoughts were interrupted by Dan telling me to focus on science because we have a big exam coming up. "Now class, as well as having the exam coming up, I'm afraid I will have to give you all a partnered project, nothing too elaborate, you need to make a poster that show all that we have covered over the semester, just a little bit of everything. It will be due next Friday." As usual, the second he said 'partnered' a bunch of people looked around and did the whole point or hand signal thing that people always do. I felt Dan elbow me, I turned to see he had his bottom lip sticking out giving me the puppy face. I couldn't help but laugh at him. "Pwease?" "Ok Dan" I said giving him a fake sympathetic face "Yes!" I smiled at his enthusiasm. How does he always manage to make me smile? I guess best friends can do that? Meh, how would I know that anyway? Me of all people.

"So who's house we going to Ren?" We were about to head home after school and we were going to get our science project done. "Mine?" "Ok, let's go then!" I laughed as Dan acted over enthusiastic about heading home "What's so funny?" "You're enthusiasm" "Fine, I won't be enthusiastic about stuff anymore!" He crossed his arms and stamped his feet like a five year old, I laughed and pushed his arm playfully making him lose his balance and fall over. "Ow!" I was laughing uncontrollably, so much so that I ended up falling over too. We probably looked like freaks lying on the ground laughing like mad, but we obviously didn't care. After a few minutes we regained composure, Dan stood up and helped me up. We started walking to my house, but I stopped abruptly and sprinted over to a bush. "What on earth are you doing?" "I Found A Lizard!" I said as I held up a massive skink. "That's so cool!" Dan came closer and petted the skink that I had found. After I put back the lizard we continued walking, and got to my house after about 3 minutes. As we walked in I dumped my books on the dining room table and went into the kitchen to get some chips and a few cans of soft drink (Aussie for soda) I walk back to the table to find that Dan has been standing there just looking around. "Want me to give you a tour?" "Sure! Hey where are your family?" "Mum has to take Kate to dance, they won't be back until about five" "Ohhh, I was wondering about that." After a quick tour of downstairs I went upstairs "And finally this is my room" I opened the door and walked in. "Woah…. This is so much cleaner than my room…." "Oh god." We laughed and went back downstairs to do our project.

Mum came home and chatted to us for a while before venturing to the lounge room where Kate was being anti-social. "Looks like we're done here, what now Ren?" "Wanna go upstairs and play some form of video game?" "Ok" So we went up to my room and played Blur for the next two hours. "Hey I better go, mum just sent me a text" "Alright then" We walked out to the front gate "I guess I'll see you tomorrow Dan" "You guess correctly" He grinned at me, but not a regular grin… a kind of devilish grin. He pulled me into a tight hug lifting me up off the ground. "Hey! Put me down!" He put me down, we laughed for a few minutes "Bye Dan" "Cya Ren" He walked off, and I went back inside to see he left his hoodie on the table where we had been working all night. "Meh… too lazy to walk to his house… I'll take it to school tomorrow" I took it upstairs and put it next to my bed as I laid down, drifting off into a nice peaceful sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up early the next morning, I was in that state of being kinda awake but having a dream. I was walking to school with Dan, then he held my hand, I walked on not noticing … until he pulled me into a random hug, but not a friendly hug, the kind of hug that you see couples sharing… he pulled back and said something to me but I couldn't quite hear it. Then my alarm went off and made me jump. "Stupid alarm" I mumbled. But what was that dream about? That was really weird but I decided it was just a dream so I got ready and left the house.

Dan was waiting for me like usual. "Hey Ren!" "Hey Dan…." I thought of the dream I had this morning, I got a funny feeling in my stomach. Never felt that before… "You ok Ren? You have been staring at me for a while… is there something on my face?" "Oh! No no… I didn't realise I was staring, sorry… I do that sometimes" I looked down at the ground, I was an idiot sometimes. I could feel my face get red from embarrassment, great. "Oh, now that you mention it I have seen you stare randomly before, you got something on your mind?" "Yeah, sort of" "Wanna talk about it?" Should I tell him about the dream I had? "I don't want to weird you out…" "I wont get weirded out, I bet ive heard weirder things than whatever you have on your mind." "Well… ok I had a dream and it was about us…" And so as we walked I told him about the dream, giving the details as much as I could. I waited for his response. "That is pretty weird, but im not worried… it was a dream." "Yeah.."

We entered the school and started walking to our lockers. I felt a pair of eyes on me and I turned to see Dan looking away quickly. Uhhh…. Was Dan checking me out or something? I brushed the thought away and finishing getting my books so I could head into class. I found that the table that is usually empty next to where I sit had two boys in it. They were twins… they had to be. I sat down only to have one of them speak to me. "Hey!" "Hi, you new here?" "Yeah we moved to this school just today, I'm Lewis and this is Sam." He pointed to the boy next to him "Hi there! Whats your name?" "I'm Ren, well my full name is Lauren." Dan sat next to me looking over to the boys "Hey! I'm Dan." Lewis had a puzzled look on his face "Are you two dating or…" "Me and Dan? No we're best friends." "You guys can sit with us at lunch if you want." Dan invited.

Lunch came fairly quickly to my surprise. Dan found me at our tree leading Sam and Lewis behind him. "Hey guys" "Hey!" They sat, Dan sat a little closer than I expected him to and I had to jump out of the way or he would have sat on me. "Dan! You could have killed me!" "Sorry, I misjudged the amount of room I was allowing…" Both Sam and Lewis were laughing like crazy at this point. "Whats so funny you guys? I almost died!" "Your face was priceless!" Sam said in-between laughs. "Ren is unamused" Dan said with a chuckle making me growl a little then a massive grin snaked along my face. "Why are you grinning like that? Ren?" I snatched the sandwich he was holding and began to run. "HEY! GET BACK HERE!" I laughed histerically as I ran for dear life. Dan chased me for a few minutes before I lead him back to the tree where our friends were laughing harder than they had been previously. "Thankyou…" Dan said sarcastically "Well you need to do some exercise some time!" I laughed at him.

After the two boys had stopped laughing Lewis said "You two are just like an old married couple! Its hilarious!" I thought back to my dream and then to when I caught Dan looking at me. I looked over at Dan who looked a little uncomfortable so I decided to lighten the mood by lightly punching his arm. "Why are you looking so uncomfortable Darling?" I exaggerated the darling sarcastically. He laughed a bit before saying "Sorry Sweety if you don't like it when I get uncomfortable but it happens" I felt eyes on me for the second time today, I looked around to see multiple eyes from around the school ground looking straight at me, because I decided to do something that lead to me standing out. My face went red and I looked down, I was ready to crawl into a hole, in a random field, somewhere in the depths of space where no one could find me. "Hey, don't get all nervous because of a little attention. Its not that bad is it?" "For me? Sam you don't understand what 'a little attention' brings to me…"

I started to remember things from my primary school years that id rather keep bottled up like they are normaly.I hugged my knees to my chest and pressed my face to my thighs in a hopeless attempt to be hidden from the world for just a moment. I felt my weight shift as someone pulled me closer to them. I looked up to see Dan had one arm around me pulling me to him. I swivelled closer to him accepting the comforting embrace. I didn't want to move from where I was seated in Dans arms, I don't know why but I really liked it. I rested my head on his chest as he rested his head on top of mine. We just sat there, not moving, not talking, just taking comfort in each other. I forgot everything else, it didn't matter, I felt safe with Dan.

The rest of the school day was spent looking at my feet as I walked, strangely enough Dan didn't move his arm from around my shoulders, not that I minded but it was weird for me mainly because ive never had anyone do this other than mum. Is it normal for friends to do this? I really have no clue about these things. "Ren? You ok? You've been staring at the page for about ten minutes now." I looked up at Dan. He looked really worried, but not like in movies, it looked like a genuine worried look. "Im fine, just … thinking I guess." "Ok… if you say so." His worried look didn't subside so im guessing that my lame excuse failed to fase him.

The final bell rung and we walked home. I was still unable to look up from the ground, and for whatever reason, Dan still had his arm around my shoulders. I liked it though so I didn't shrug his arm off. As we reached my house he took his arm off me and pulled me into a tight hug. "Now are you sure you're ok? Im getting worried about you…" "Im sure that im ok Dan. You don't need to worry about me ok?" "Alright" He sighed as he let go of me. "I cant play video games tonight, im going over to my grandparents to see how they are. Ill text you later but until then I guess Ill see you tomorrow?" "Ok, cya" I walked inside and started my homework. After completing said homework I found myself staring out a window aimlessly.

I walked up to my room and laid on my bed with my earphones in listening to MCR. I looked around the room to find Dans Hoodie on my computer desk. I must have forgotten to take it with me. I got up and grabbed it off the desk. It smelled strongly of him and since I was shivering I put it on and laid back down. I felt comforted by his scent, like he was laying next to me in my bed. I felt my eyelids get heavy and I soon drifted into a peaceful sleep. About half an hour later I was awoken by my phone telling me I had received a text. I reached out for it and looked at the screen. 'Hey Ren! Are you ok? You weren't yourself today and when you went inside you seemed really sad.' I didn't want to answer Dan. I loved the concern he was showing but I just wanted to sleep away my problems for now. 'Ill tell you tomorrow at the park. Meet me there at 12?' I realised that tomorrow was Saturday so we didn't have school. 'Alright, I hope your ok. Ill be there.'

And with that, I fell asleep, only to dream another weird dream about him…


End file.
